Raúl Castro appears on Cuban television

Raúl Castro has reappeared on Cuban state television, shown in an extended report marking the 65th anniversary of a Ministry of the Interior unit responsible for protecting the country’s leaders, particularly Fidel Castro.

The 95-year-old former president attended the ceremony alongside his grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, who leads his personal security detail. State television showed Raúl Castro congratulating several veterans of the unit. He appeared in good health and wore his customary olive-green uniform.

The appearance came less than a month after he was seen in public in Havana during events marking the centenary of the birth of his late brother, Fidel Castro. Raúl Castro led Cuba from 2006 to 2018 and no longer holds an official position in the government or Communist Party. The article says he nevertheless remains influential in political decisions and retains the loyalty of the armed forces.

Cuba’s presidency said in June that Raúl Castro had approved a package of economic reforms intended to confront the country’s crisis under pressure from the United States. The measures represent the biggest change to Cuba’s economic model since the country adopted communism nearly 70 years ago.

The article also notes that U.S. justice authorities accused Raúl Castro in May over the deaths of four U.S. citizens after two small aircraft belonging to an anti-Castro group were shot down in 1996. He was defense minister at the time.